Israel, on Wednesday (March 4, 2026), warned that it would eliminate any Iranian official elected as the next Supreme Leader to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in the US-Israel airstrikes on Tehran on Saturday (February 28).
Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said any leader succeeding Khamenei as Supreme Leader would be a “target for elimination,” according to Israeli media reports.
“Any leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue leading the plan to destroy Israel, threaten the US and the free world, and the countries of the region, and oppress the Iranian people, will be an unequivocal target for elimination. “It does not matter what his name is or where he hides,” Katz said in a statement.
“We will continue to act with full force, together with our American partners, to dismantle the regime’s capabilities and create the conditions for the Iranian people to overthrow and replace it,” Katz added.
Israeli Media had earlier reported that Ayatollah Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was chosen as the successor to his father and will take over as the Supreme Leader.
The reports, quoting senior Israeli officials, said the Assembly of Experts of Iran would formally announce Mojtaba as the successor within the next few hours.
However, Iran officially denied it had selected Mojtaba as the next Supreme Leader through a statement from the Mumbai-based Iranian Consulate on the microblogging site X.
Mojtaba was officially part of his father’s office, working closely with the Iranian political and military leadership under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s tutelage.
Israeli media had described Mojtaba as “more hardline” than his father, as he held close connections with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Quds Force, both powerful military organisations under the Iranian regime, and was at the forefront of the reported crackdown on the Iranian people protesting against their government for governance failures.
In November 2019, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Mojtaba, designating him as the representative of the then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an official capacity despite never being elected or appointed to a government position.
Meanwhile, Iran hardened its position against the US and Israel, as the West Asian war entered the sixth day on Thursday (March 5, 2026). On Wednesday (March 4), the late Khamenei’s senior aide, Mohammed Mokhber, told the Iranian state television that Tehran had no intention of negotiating a settlement with the US and would continue the war as long as necessary.
The IRGC had earlier noted that it launched the 17th wave of air strikes against the US and Israel targets in the West Asian region, according to Iranian media reports.
The IRGC’s Ground Force said it responded to the US-Israel strikes with three major operations, and announced another phase of its ‘Operation True Promise 4’ on Wednesday (March 4).
IRGC’s Public Relations said its ground forces launched more than 230 assault drones at targets inside Israel and the US military bases in the West Asian region, soon after the joint US-Israel air strikes on Iran.
“Firing dozens of drones in several waves towards the US military bases in Erbil and Kuwait, and destroying several terrorist groups’ headquarters in northern Iraq were the first actions of brave soldiers of the IRGC against child-killing aggressors,” said the IRGC statement.
Iranian officials stressed that targeting US military bases in the region constitutes “legitimate self-defence,” referring to Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, against “acts of aggression” by the US or the Israeli regime.